The Wayanad Experience.

We started from Bangalore on the 15^th in the evening and reached Kalpetta at around 5.30 AM our limbs freezing, the next day. We took a bus from there to the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation where we stayed in dormitories for the duration of our trip. We visited Uravu the same day, a non-profit NGO that works with the indigenous people of Kerala and women to train them and equip them with skill sets to work with bamboo. They chose bamboo as it is locally available and because of its multi-purpose nature. Uravu have their own nurseries and bamboo farms therefore making them a self-sustaining system. It was started by a group of friends in 1996 who wanted a socially conscious, alternative style of living and they handle everything from producing the bamboo, treating it for handicrafts to marketing the bamboo products. Uravu empowers the people they train and gives them a sense of dignity, of independence. We were guided by Mr.Surendranath who was part of the management and we were shown a short presentation on how Uravu works. Uravu also holds jackfruit festivals to showcase its versatility and sell food products such as pickles and jams. 

We interacted with the women there who were working with the ‘green gold’ to create handicrafts and products such as lamp shades, rain sticks, flower vases and candle stands. We witnessed the process of weaving a bamboo blind. We also visited the store that was located above the work area.
We then set off for Uravar, a micro-enterprise that specialised in making bags by combining jute and bamboo. Uravu wanted to make bags out of bamboo but found it unfeasible. So they make jute and cloth bags with bamboo highlights.
Later we were taken to the main office, were the financials and general management was handled. We met the rest of the Uravu team and they gave us more information regarding bamboo such as the treatment of it, the disadvantages of storing or transporting bamboo. For example, bamboo is hollow and lots of insects tend to bore inside and feed on the sugars stored in the stem. Treatment removes these insects, which otherwise used to be done by a long process of soaking bamboo in the water. However that method was not found to be practical for commercial purposes. Bamboo could not be stored for a very long time as they start to get fungus infested and become unusable. Transportation again becomes a problem if the products are too delicate. There are approximately 136 varieties of bamboo being grown by Uravu. We then broke to have lunch at a nearby home stay, again managed by Uravu. The house was constructed over a pond and incorporated a lot of bamboo in its artfully created design.
After lunch we were taken to the bamboo farms and the nursery. The farm, for all purposes, resembled a forest and we had to trek quite a bit. We came across a variety of bamboo from reeds to very large ones like Gigantis. Uravu was also trying to construct guest houses in the middles of these forests to promote tourism. We saw two of these construction sites and they were mostly made of bamboo and sturdy banana stems. After that, we were taken to the bamboo nursery and a temple from where we had to trek through a field to reach our jeeps. We had dinner at the Foundation and went to bed in preparation for the next day.

We were planning an early morning walk the next day but it did not take place as all of us overslept, tired from the previous days walking and bus journey. That day we travelled in and around Kalpetta to visit and interact with various bamboo clusters, self-help groups (SHGs) that were formed by rural women who were trained by Uravu and skilled to work with bamboo and produce handicrafts and items like photo frames, bottles cases and such. Uravu helps sell their products by marketing these micro-enterprises.
The first SHG we visited was Neravu. They were making calendar holders while we were visiting. Started about 8 years ago, they initially had 20 people in it which was reduced to 9 at present. The women left for various reasons like marriage and bamboo dust allergies. They told us that they were not able to experiment with bamboo as orders would come in one after the other, leaving them with no time for anything else.
The next was Unarvu, an SHG that specialised in making jewellery. They started with 18 and reduced to 12. The bamboo that they were using was not provided by Uravu but was collected by them and the men. They used elephant bamboo and cut and polished them to make beads that they painted. They asked us for new designs and were very happy when we provided some in a notebook they had. A few of us also decorated a few beads. I notice that the women were very happy with what they were doing but they needed new and fresh designs rather than recycled ones. For inspiration they consult magazines and watch TV programs.
The third SHG was Sneha and they started 4 years ago. Around 15 people work there and they were trained for new orders when they came in for around a week. They were making photo frames when we visited. We also learnt that waste from one group was taken to another where they can be put to use.
The next group was Soubaghya and they started 4 years ago with 20 people now reduced to 14. We saw them working with saws and not much else as they were wrapping up for the day. When asked they told us that they were insured by the panchayat.
We found that among the self-help groups each of them were being paid about 125-180 rupees per day. They were also depositing a fixed amount of money in the South Malabar Gramine bank which acted as a security from which they could withdraw money without the need for collateral. The work timings were almost the same, 7 hours per day. They were also provided with masks and mufflers to protect them from the dust. Most of their children sre educated till the 12^th standard and on askinf, we found out that they were not interested in working with bamboo.

The third day was sight-seeing day. We also had to understand how these sights shaped the culture of the place. The first place was Edakkal caves, which we had to reach after a trek. They were not caves as such but gave the impression of one due to a huge piece of rock being wedged in between two rock faces. These caves had engravings that were made by tribes living there around 60,000 years ago. It was fascinating to see their creative interpretation of the times they lived in and spoke quite a bit about life then. Hidden away in these caves, due to fear of defacement, is a painting that is the first ever geometric one. This painting had the power to change history that’s been saying it was the Greeks who first started using geometry. Instead it cowers behind a staircase, its future or rather history unknown.
The next destination was a museum which had a lot of historic artefacts and statues. There were many agricultural implements that were made of bamboo which made me realise the significance of the woody grass in Kerala’s culture. Otherwise, I did not find it particularly engaging, except for one piece which caught my attention. It was a slab of rock that looked plain and unspoilt on both sides until you make out that there’s writing on one side which I found very similar to the Malayalam script.
After that was a trip we were all waiting for, to the Soochipara waterfalls. This too, was to be reached after a short trek downhill, instead of uphill. After a moment’s hesitation nearly all of us literally slipped into the water and made our way to the waterfall. It was quite an experience, the feeling of the spray and the water dragging you along. We girls found it uncomfortable afterwards as there was no proper place we could change with some amount of privacy.
We trekked back up and went back to the Foundation to feed ourselves and rest up for the next day.

The fourth day, we had to be up and trekking at 7. However, we started only at 9 as all of us had overslept. We went trekking up the hill close to the foundation and we were guided by a scientist who worked there. I was surprised to find that he was also indigenous. This realisation made me rethink my already changing idea of the word Tribal and what it implied. We experienced the rich and varied flora and fauna, many of which had medicinal uses. I learnt many things such as the aroma of Lemon grass could refresh a tired person and an extraction from a certain rare species of bird was medically valuable. I felt the hill had a character of its own, as the guides explained that the indigenous people celebrated a spring from which water flowed only at a particular time in a year. We trekked back down, riddled with scratches and cuts and left for Kanavu, after lunch.
Kanavu, a school for the indigenous, was started around 20 years ago by K.J.Baby, a Malayali playwright and political personality whose troupe would stage plays around the issues faced by the indigenous. It was initially thriving with around 25 students ranging from ages 10-18. Many of these students are involved in exchange programs and are learning from other schools. The curriculum, I found, is very similar to ours in Srishti as it was very hands on and practical. Along with conventional subjects like science and history, other subjects like dance, music and kalaripayattu an ancient martial art were thought. However, due to lack of funds the school is more or less not functional. I felt this to be very unfortunate as I felt this system would work well with the children in learning, rather than conventional lessons and exams. The children are encouraged to advance in the subjects they find most interesting and many of them apply for open school exams which they are trained for at the school. They are not registered under the government, which could be another reason for their lack of funds. We were shown a documentary about the school and we left soon after.

I was looking forward to the last day as we could work with bamboo to make our own products. We were divided into three groups, for weaving, sculpting and for general products. I enjoyed working with bamboo as I found it easy to work with and also my mentor for the day, Sir.Biju was guiding me well and providing better suggestions for my design. After a satisfying day of hands on work, we thanked the team of Uravu and left for Bangalore that night.

Kerala is rich in biodiversity and they mainly focus on crops such as banana, coconut and rubber apart from bamboo. You find undulating tea and coffee estates side by side with tall palm trees. There are a lot of stores that sell many products made from natural resources like green tea and varied spices, lemon grass and eucalyptus oil. I could sense the immense amount of respect that the people of Wayanad had for nature from the bamboo workers to the scientist who guided us through the forest.

As picturesque and beautiful as Wayanad and its whole community is, it comes with its own issues. Uravu has drawbacks in its system that needs to be taken care of. I find it to be neither here nor there. It could go both ways depending on what Uravu wants to focus on. If their focus is on a viable business model, they have to improve their marketability and their market range by sourcing out their products to urban markets. Bamboo is becoming a must have product for the eco-conscious city dweller.